Why Classic Warcraft Games Won't Be Getting Remastered

The original Warcraft trilogy goes down in history as one of the most popular collections of real-time strategy games ever made. They paved the way for what eventually evolved into World of Warcraft, the now ubiquitous MMO franchise. Well, some people have been wondering about Warcraft remasters.

According to Eurogamer, Blizzard doesn't have any plans on remastering the original three Warcraft games. During a Q&A session at this past year's BlizzCon in Anaheim, California, a fan asked Blizzard co-founder, Frank Pearce, if they would be remastering the original Warcraft games, and Pearce responded by saying...

We had some dedicated folks that were passionate about the idea, dig up the Warcraft 1 assets and code. They got it working and they got it running in a window. And I played it. Warcraft: Orcs & Humans was awesome for its time. I promise you, in today's world, by today's standards, it's just not that fun anymore.

Pearce stated that they have limited resources (believe it or not) and they were more focused on World of Warcraft and Overwatch than digging up old "fossils".

According to Eurogamer, Mike Morhaime, the other co-founder of Blizzard, was quick to chime in that they weren't doing or working on remasters of the original Warcraft series "at this time!"

This doesn't discount that remasters could happen down the line, but it's interesting that Pearce would say that the original games wouldn't be fun for today's audience. Games like Planetary Annihilation and Ashes of the Singularity, along with the upcoming Halo Wars 2 proves that there's at least some interest in real-time strategy games. Heck, it was Warcraft 3's original DOTA mod that paved the way for MOBAs to exist, leading to uber-popular games like League of Legends, Dota 2 and Blizzard's own Heroes of the Storm, all of which were given a platform to build new audiences and new brands based on those legacy games.

I don't see how remasters of classic games wouldn't be popular if done correctly. CG-quality assets so gamers can zoom in and see the action would go a long way in making the original Warcraft titles both exciting and lively. That's not to mention that an all new eSports sector could open up with spectators watching the action on the "ground level" so to speak, getting a full view of all new, high-quality assets and special effects.

Heck, Creative Assembly and Games Workshop basically sold the gaming audience on the entire premise of getting up close and personal with the various factions of Warhammer in Total War: Warhammer, making it just as much about the strategy as the cinematic quality of the battles. According to Steam Spy,Total War: Warhammer has moved close to a million copies since May. So obviously there's an audience for these kinds of games, and if Blizzard played their cards right, making the old games play like their classic selves but with all the high-end graphics capabilities of today's technology, they could be looking at some blockbuster sales.

Then again, maybe people don't really want to play the classic Warcraft games with a new coat of paint. It's one of those things that could likely go down in history that only plays out in the minds of fans, much like a Sting versus Undertaker match at Wrestlemania.